


Ten Facts About Tony Stark

by Liliace



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Tony Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 18:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4798067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliace/pseuds/Liliace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1. He’s a playboy</p>
<p>Not so much after Afghanistan – because the arc reactor in his chest is difficult to explain and he’s worried (terrified) of people seeing, touching it – and then he has Pepper, who is probably the best thing that has ever happened to him and he’s worried (terrified) of messing it up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Facts About Tony Stark

**Author's Note:**

> Just a rambling ficlet I felt like writing, hope you enjoy!

1\. He’s a playboy

Not so much after Afghanistan – because the arc reactor in his chest is difficult to explain and he’s worried (terrified) of people seeing, _touching_ it – and then he has Pepper, who is probably the best thing that has ever happened to him and he’s worried (terrified) of messing it up.

Yet his playboy image stays intact and everyone is constantly expecting him to cheat on Pepper, which upsets him more than he lets on because it’s not just strangers making that accusation, but those close to him as well; Rhodey warned him not to hurt Pepper, Happy looks doubting whenever he goes to a meeting with a woman, and well, those are the only ones close to him.

He wonders why no one thinks more about his interaction with men, since he’s pansexual.

2\. He’s pansexual

He’s never hidden it – not after his parents’ deaths because before that he had to keep it a secret from Howard – but other than a small scandal at the beginning, the media seems happy to ignore that fact. Probably because he’s never been ashamed of his sexuality and the media doesn’t want to portray a famous celebrity as pansexual.

Well, bisexual more like it, since most probably don’t even know that pansexuality exists.

3\. He knows a lot

One of his favourite hobbies is learning. Right after engineering and hacking secure government sites, really, because all those things help him keep his mind occupied.

And if there’s nothing worse than an unoccupied mind (and there is because Afghanistan showed him what real torture is like and Obie showed him how much easier a mind is to break by betrayal rather than endless circles) Tony hasn’t found it.

Unoccupied means thoughts about his past (neglect and loneliness and hurt) and his actions (building weapons and hurting Pepper and _Yinsen_ ) and his future (the arc reactor won’t last forever and Pepper might leave him and he might fail even worse than he’s failed before which would take a lot).

So he builds, and he engineers, and he reads. He learns stuff – science, history, mythology – of which some things are more useful than others, but he’s equally thankful for all of them anyway. And when his mind is otherwise occupied, there’s no need to worry about his brain playing tricks on him – and that’s why he avoids sleep.

4\. He sleeps very little

Even before Afghanistan he didn’t sleep a lot. He didn’t have anything against sleep itself but rather the moments before it (memories and worries and thoughts flashing through his mind because his mind never rests until it shuts down).

Nowadays, he dreads both the sleep and the moments before it (because now there are more memories added and they won’t leave him alone even during sleep). So naturally, he stays up as much as possible and only really goes to sleep when Pepper drags him to bed.

5\. He never was an alcoholic

Not really, anyway. He’s not addicted to alcohol, and he can not drink huge amounts of alcohol at once if he wants to avoid it.  
Alcohol – or rather passing out because of it – helps his mind shut down, and that’s reason enough to drink a lot whenever he wants to not think. He doesn’t care that people will call him an alcoholic, not if he can fall asleep (pass out) without having to endure his brain working against him.

But he doesn’t drink because he’s addicted, and he’d stop in a moment if he’d find another way to achieve peaceful sleep.

6\. Pepper is his everything

She’s the only way he can find a modicum of peace. She’s his rock, his support, his best friend and lover. She’s the thing that keeps him running, and she’s his reason for living.

He’s not sure how he survived without Pepper, but he knows that he’d never survive without her again. He would survive a break up (because he’ll surely fuck up at some point and Pepper deserves much better than him anyway) but not Pepper’s absence from his life.

7\. He’s protective

When people threaten Pepper, people die. When people hurt Happy, people die. When people mess with Jarvis, people are spied on. He stopped trusting Fury and SHIELD the moment they overrode Jarvis, and he knows they’ll never get that trust back. Because Jarvis is his creation and anything that’s his gets his protection.

That’s why mothers get video footage of their sons’ shameful behaviour (because Natasha can’t hurt civilians) and the coffee machine at the SHIELD headquarters doesn’t work (because Bruce doesn’t want to hurt anyone) and there’s a new app for old people that helps them deal with technology (because Steve doesn’t like asking for help) and the hearing aids industry made a huge leap forward (because he hacks things and Clint’s file mentioned his almost-deafness).

He doesn’t know how to protect Thor, but he figures the demi god doesn’t need his protection anyway.

Because they’re his teammates, no matter how little they might think of him.

8\. He’s aware of his faults

He knows he’s selfish and arrogant and rambles a lot and doesn’t pay attention to others. He knows that he’s a very difficult person to like, no matter his amazing sense of humour and his brilliant genius, and he’s very thankful that Pepper and Rhodey and Happy saw something in him that’s worth their time.

He’s pretty sure that Bruce is willing to ignore his bad personality traits because they make awesome science together, but he’s slightly doubtful that the others will ever give him a chance.

9\. Selfishness is his worst trait

He doesn’t like to share. He doesn’t think about things from other people’s point of views. He wants a lot of things he can’t have (parental affection Howard proud of him Obie on his side).

The stunt with the nuke and sacrificing himself wasn’t because he was being selfless. It wasn’t even because he wanted to prove Cap wrong. The stunt was because he was being selfish and he didn’t want others’ deaths on his conscience (because Yinsen and all the other millions of people his weapons had killed were enough).

10\. Yinsen was his starting point.

Yinsen was what drove him forward, what gave him motivation, what made him try his best. Yinsen was just an old doctor in a desert, but he saved Tony from both the weapons he build and his meaningless life.

He cared about Pepper and Obie and Rhodey and Happy and Jarvis, and he never thought that he’d ever care for anyone else. But Yinsen opened up to him and made him want to open up again as well and while Yinsen is the reason he’s still here, Yinsen is also the reason he didn’t shut down completely even after Afghanistan.

No one knows about Yinsen, not really. They know he wasn’t alone in the confinement and that someone saved his life from the shrapnel, but they don’t know Yinsen. They don’t know what all the kind old doctor did for him, a selfish mercenary. They don’t know how Yinsen changed his life and how Tony cares about him more than he does about a lot of things.

Because Yinsen saved his life and Yinsen made him want to tear down his own walls, and he has Yinsen to thank for Pepper and his team and Iron Man, and he knows he can never repay the man.

So the bullets he fired for the old man (who preached about peace when his family was dead) and the explosions he caused for the doctor (who told him he’s better than building weapons) had to be enough.


End file.
